1979 British Grand Prix
14 July |officialname = XXXII Marlboro British Grand Prix |circuit = Silverstone Circuit |location = Northamptonshire, Great Britain |circuittype = Permanent racing facility |lapdistance = 4.719 |laps = 68 |distance = 320.871 |pole = Alan Jones |polenation = AUS |poleteam = |poletime = 1:11.88 |fastestlap = 1:14.40 |fastestlapdriver = Clay Regazzoni |fastestlapnation = SUI |fastestlapteam = |fastestlapnumber = 39 |winner = Clay Regazzoni |winnernation = SUI |winnerteam = |second = René Arnoux |secondnation = FRA |secondteam = |third = Jean-Pierre Jarier |thirdnation = FRA |thirdteam = }} The 1979 British Grand Prix, otherwise officially advertised as the XXXII Marlboro British Grand Prix, was the ninth round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Silverstone Circuit on the 14 July 1979.'British GP, 1979', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 2015), http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr322.html, (Accessed 28/12/2018) The race would see claim their first ever victory in F1, courtesy of the combined efforts of Clay Regazzoni and Alan Jones. It would be the latter who would start the race from pole, with Jones beating the flying of Jean-Pierre Jabouille by half a second. Regazzoni, meanwhile, would start the race from fourth alongside Nelson Piquet, while Championship leader Jody Scheckter would start down in eleventh. Jones duly aced the start to claim an early lead, leaving Jabouille to fend off the attentions of his teammate Regazzoni into the first corner. Piquet led the rest of the field through ahead of his teammate Niki Lauda, but would find himself pointing in the wrong direction and out of the race come the end of the opening tour. The top three quickly pulled away from Lauda during the early stages, who soon found himself fighting a losing battle with those behind. Indeed, René Arnoux, Gilles Villeneuve and Scheckter would all barge their way past before the tenth tour, although they were all a long way behind the leaders. Indeed, the top three were setting a ferocious pace up front, as was shown when Jabouille had to abandon second place and pit for fresh Michelin tyres on lap seventeen. Regazzoni was hence left to stare at the back of Jones' rear wing, having past Jabouille moments before the Frenchman's stop, although the Swiss ace did not attack his Australian teammate. The race soon settled after that point, with half-distance coming and going without any major revisions to the order. Yet, on lap 38 disaster would strike for the dominant Jones, with the #27 Williams slowing dramatically halfway around the lap with a cooked engine. Regazzoni was hence left on his own at the head of the field, with Arnoux beginning to make ground. Ultimately, however, there would be no battle for victory, for Regazzoni had enough in hand to claim victory by over twenty seconds come the chequered flag. Arnoux duly finished second as the only man on the lead lap, while a late charge by Jean-Pierre Jarier carried him onto the podium, ahead of John Watson, Scheckter and Jacky Ickx. Background The F1 circus of headed to the amble expanse of the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, UK, for the ninth round of the season, which remained unchanged from the series' last visit in 1977.D.S.J., 'The British Grand Prix: Williams all the way', motorsportmagazine.com, (Motor Sport Magazine, 01/08/1979), https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/august-1979/33/british-grand-prix, (Accessed 28/12/2018) As such, all of the attention heading into the race was placed on the events of the previous race in France, with winners being forced into proving that Jean-Pierre Jabouille's race winning engine had not been illegal. There was also some minor fall-out over the last-lap battle for second during that race, which had been nothing short of spectacular, and several new cars set to debut. Unsporting Acts? The first issue concerning Jabouille's engine was to be solved in the week after the Grand Prix, with Renault taking immediate action to ensure that their twin turbocharged V6 engine was not immediately banned. They duly dismantled Jabouille's race winning engine in front of the scrutineers to demonstrate that it was not a '2.1 litre Le Mans engine' as some theorised, and so the matter was dropped and allowed to fade. Jabouille and teammate René Arnoux would hence arrive at Silverstone as the favourites given their dominant pace at Dijon, although that was to change after a pre-race test. Arnoux was also the subject of a paddock splitting discussion regarding the his and Gilles Villeneuve's wheel banging battle towards the end of the French Grand Prix, which had seen Villeneuve ultimately deny Arnoux second place. Indeed, while their intense duel had been seen as a battle for the ages by the majority in the paddock, and personally enjoyed by both, there was a small faction led by Niki Lauda, John Watson and Jody Scheckter that believed that it had been too dangerous. Lauda would unsuccessfully push for the two to be reprimanded by the Drivers' Safety Committee, with Arnoux replying: Fortunately the issue would not carry through to the British Grand Prix itself, with both F.O.C.A. and FISA remaining quiet on the topic. Regardless, it became clear that there was a distinct divide between the drivers, with a "Stewartian" faction, led by Lauda, Scheckter and Watson, pushing for safety and evoking the crusade Jackie Stewart and the Grand Prix Drivers' Association from the earlier part of the decade. This was countered by the "Petersonians" who thrived on racing wheel-to-wheel regardless of risk, and was particularly championed by the younger members of the field. Summer Solutions Into the entry list for the British Grand Prix and Lauda and had been busy testing ahead of the latter's home race, with Lauda setting the second fastest time of the test with a 1:13.30. As such both himself and teammate Nelson Piquet would arrive in a fairly happy mood, mechanically at least, with their BT48s arriving with new carbon brake discs. There was, however, news of Brabham's BT48 successor, with Bernie Ecclestone declaring that the team would drop their F12 engines for a set of V8s for the campaign. The aforementioned tyre test, held by Goodyear as they sought to counter the ever improving products from Michelin, would instead be topped by Alan Jones, who broke the circuit record with a stunning effort of 1:12.99. Indeed, the squad were in buoyant mood ahead of their home race, with Jones and teammate Clay Regazzoni using their usual FW07s from the weekend before. It therefore seemed to be between themselves and Renault as favourites for the weekend, with the Renault duo of Jabouille and Arnoux unchanged as well. Elsewhere, had rushed through their second new car of the season, handing Watson the new M29, which was a complete redesign compared to its predecessor. Indeed, the new M29 borrowed many design elements from McLaren's rivals, most notably and , resulting in a lighter, shorter and smaller car than Patrick Tambay's M28C. The new car also sported a heat exchanger rather than a radiator, buried deep within the right hand sidepod as a more effective way of cooling its oil supply, an innovation that had been developed by Williams. Another new design in the field appeared in the garage, with Keke Rosberg keen to try out a car that had not been tested before its debut weekend. The WR9 was, in truth, simply an evolution of the season old WR8 that had convinced James Hunt to retire, and sported a re-sculpted rear-end, designed to reduce the amount of drag/turbulence generated at the back of the car. Otherwise the car was unchanged from its predecessor, with Rosberg left to choose between it, WR8 and the even older WR7 across the weekend. , meanwhile, had also been busy developing a new ground-effect car, although Arturo Merzario had been limited by his meagre budget. Indeed, the new Merzario A4 was little more than a revised version of the WK that had appeared earlier in the season, with Merzario's engineers having implemented various elements of their old A2 onto the design. Regardless, Merzario would be satisfied with his new creation and duly entered it as his main car, with his old A2 listed as their sole spare. Elsewhere were desperately trying to find a solution to the porpoising issues that had plagued the Lotus 80, with the newest of Type 80s undergoing another re-design. That meant that Mario Andretti would only have access to the original Type 80 at Silverstone, although he would ultimately decide to race his older Lotus 79 having decided that the Type 80 was not competitive enough. For teammate Carlos Reutemann, however, it would be business as usual as he used his familiar Type 79, while privateer Héctor Rebaque continued to champion his privately entered example with hopes of making the grid. , meanwhile, had once again had to spend a non-racing weekend rebuilding one of their cars, with Didier Pironi getting a whole new front end on his 009, while Jean-Pierre Jarier's car remained untouched. , in contrast, would have very little to do during the two week break, and would only participate in a private test session for Michelin as they focused on building another new 312T4 to appease their opposed duo of Villeneuve and Scheckter. Likewise, the Scuderia's main title rivals were unchanged ahead of the battle of Britain, with Jacques Laffite and Jacky Ickx hoping that the flat Silverstone circuit would suit their JS11s better that Dijon's undulating sweeps. were another team seemingly unchanged after the French Grand Prix, still fielding Jan Lammers and Elio de Angelis in-spite of their increasing lack of budget. Arch-rivals , meanwhile, had been away analysing their performance following the debut of their new A2 at Dijon, although there would be no upgrades for their duo of Riccardo Patrese and Jochen Mass. The and were also unchanged, fielding Patrick Gaillard and Emerson Fittipaldi respectively, while had resolved their differences with Goodyear well enough for Hans-Joachim Stuck to take part. Into the Championship and with all of the major players bar Villeneuve having failed to score in France there had been no real change at the top of the table. Indeed, only the aforementioned Villeneuve would gain ground, the Canadian ace having moved up into second, four behind teammate Scheckter at the head of the pack. Elsewhere, race winner Jabouille head leapt into the top ten after his victory, while his teammate Arnoux had ended the afternoon in thirteenth. In the International Cup for Constructors it was Ferrari who arrived in the UK at the head of the pack, holding a fourteen point lead over Ligier-Ford Cosworth. Behind, Team Lotus-Ford Cosworth and Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth had held station in third and fourth, with both getting increasingly drawn in by the ever improving Williams-Ford Cosworth squad in fifth. Renault, meanwhile, had moved to within a point of fifth placed Williams, having become the tenth squad to register a points finish in 1979 after their home triumph. Entry list The full entry list for the is outlined below: Practice Overview Qualifying Qualifying returned to its pre-French Grand Prix format for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, with two practice sessions followed by two quali-sessions. Indeed, both the Thursday and Friday afternoon sessions would be used to set the grid, while the morning sessions on both days were left for race practice. In terms of a target time the circuit record had been shattered by Alan Jones during the pre-race tyre test, with the Australian believing his new mark of 1:12.99 would be beaten during qualifying. Thursday Qualifying It would be a spectacular start to the weekend during Thursday morning's untimed practice session, with several high-speed incidents showing just how much the drivers were pushing. Indeed, as Niki Lauda saw his engine expire in his mirrors, Jody Scheckter would go flying off the circuit backwards at Stowe, smashing his rear wing as he slid into the barriers. He pulled away just in time to see Jones have an identical accident in the , which also picked up rear damage, while John Watson sat out most of the session after an early engine failure. Into the opening qualifying session itself and it instantly became clear that Jones was the man to beat at Silverstone, in spite of the fact that he would complete the session in the spare Williams. Within the opening half-hour of the session the Australian was threatening his circuit record setting mark, before dipping into the 1:12.00s before the halfway point. Yet, he would not stop there, and duly blitzed one of his last laps of the day to record a 1:11.88, and literally find himself in a class of his own. Indeed, come the end of the session no-one bar Jones had threatened the 1:12.00s, let alone the 1:11.00s, with in-form duo Jean-Pierre Jabouille and René Arnoux his closest challengers. Their efforts of 1:13.27 and 1:13.29 respectively saw them lead the "ace" section behind Jones, just ahead of Nelson Piquet and Lauda in the s. The majority of the field then found itself in the 1:14.00s or slower, with the last driver in the 26 strong field, Arturo Merzario, almost eight seconds off of Jones' effort. Away from the outright performance and most of the drivers would encounter an issue or two during the session, although some were more serious than others. Indeed, the seemed at a loss for why they were not challenging the "aces" ahead of them, with Carlos Reutemann out pacing World Champion teammate Mario Andretti by a fair margin. Likewise, were being made to look a shadow of their selves from earlier in the season, with the 312T4 really struggling at a circuit without a slow speed corner. would fight to make his Grand Prix debut with .]]Elsewhere, Patrick Gaillard was just making the grade at the back of the field, the Frenchman's red ending the day just ahead of Jan Lammers and Merzario to occupy the final grid spot on the provisional list. Clay Regazzoni, meanwhile, would have a strong run in the second Williams ended by a broken sideskirt, although he was safely in the top ten before his drama. Keke Rosberg was another driver to get himself up the order in-spite of a large amount of lost time, courtesy of some new-car-niggles for the new , while Jacques Laffite spent the afternoon swapping between his two s. Friday Qualifying Friday morning would see the temperatures rise due to a change in wind direction, with fears that this would deny any improvement enhanced as most of the field failed to match their pace from Thursday. Indeed, Williams would end the session with enough concern about the temperature change the they made some setup changes, opting to swap their aluminium radiators for some more efficient brass ones, at the cost of some added weight. Elsewhere, Andretti tried out the Lotus 80, but was still unhappy, Scheckter destroyed his engine, and both Alfa Romeo engines in the Brabhams were springing oil leaks for no rhyme or reason. Into the second and final qualifying session and it was Jones who again ended the session as the fastest driver, despite failing to match his effort from Thursday. Indeed, the Australian ace would end the session with a 1:12.13, ensuring that there would be no protest about a change of car, with the added weight of the brass radiators having no negative impacts according to Jones. His pace was backed by teammate Regazzoni, although the Swiss ace was still a second off Jones' Friday best come the end of the session. That fact ensured that Williams would be denied their first ever front row lockout, with two drivers managing to get in-between the #27 and #28 cars. The first of these would be Jabouille in his Renault, having been only the second driver to break into the 1:12.00s all weekend, and would duly end the session with a 1:12.48. He was to be joined by Piquet in third as the Brazilian quietly went about things, although whether the #6 Brabham could have beaten the Renault became academic when the exhaust system failed. Elsewhere, the session would be briefly paused when Riccardo Patrese flew into the fences at Becketts, resulting in some bodywork damage to the one race old . Rosberg, meanwhile, would be forced to switch to the spare Wolf after the new version suffered an electrical failure, while Gilles Villeneuve arrived in the Ferrari pits unannounced, only to find that his pit crew had been moved to service teammate Scheckter's car. Indeed, it was only when a Michelin engineer went to speak with him that Villeneuve was able to receive some attention, causing more speculation about the level of harmony at the Scuderia. At the back of the field, meanwhile, there would be a late rush to qualify between Gaillard, Héctor Rebaque and Hans-Joachim Stuck, with Merzario a long way off the pace. Indeed, the trio, knowing that one of them would miss out, exchanged a series of times in the 1:17.00s, with a late flurry between the trio ending with Stuck as the man to miss out. With that the grid for the 1979 British Grand Prix was set, with five and a half seconds separating Jones on pole and Rebaque in twenty-fourth. Qualifying Results The full qualifying results for the are outlined below: *T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session. *'Bold' indicates a driver's best/qualifying time. Grid ** Patrese would start the race from the pitlane. Race Raceday dawned bright, warm and with clear skies, with no threat of rain to spoil one of the biggest days on the racing calendar. Indeed, a 100,000 strong crowd would gather throughout a busy morning at Silverstone, with a support package featuring the British Saloon Car Championship, Formula Three and a vintage F1 race. In between those races would be the familiar warm-up session, although the half-hour test session would prove troublesome for some of the major contenders. Warm-up Indeed, while pre-race favourite Alan Jones bedded in his new engine, his major rivals would hit trouble to disrupt their preparations. Indeed, Jean-Pierre Jabouille would fail to get out at all due to a gearbox failure, while Keke Rosberg had to abandon the new and switch to the spare. Another casualty proved to be Patrick Gaillard, whose car had to be dragged back to the pits with a dead engine, although Hans-Joachim Stuck's hopes of inheriting the Frenchman's place on the grid were dashed when managed to swap out the ruined unit for a spare. After that, Jones would lead the field around onto the grid ahead of the 3:00pm start time, with all 24 qualifiers, bar Riccardo Patrese, completing the formation lap. Report The was the briefest of pauses before the starters lights flashed to green, with Clay Regazzoni's white making a stunning start from fourth. Indeed, the Swiss ace's getaway was so rapid that he accidentally ran teammate Jones wide through Copse, although the Australian was able to slot back in ahead of third placed Jean-Pierre Jabouille. The rest of the field charged in behind them led by Nelson Piquet, with no clashes or incidents of note in-spite of the close proximity. It proved to be a thrilling opening lap around Silverstone, with Regazzoni holding onto his lead until the top trio hit the hanger straight for the first time.The Fastlane, 'F1 1979 - Race 9 - British Grand Prix Live (50fps Remaster)', youtube.com, (YouTube, 27/03/2016), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VkkAqFB78M, (Accessed 29/12/2018) Indeed, as he led the charge towards Stowe Jabouille would get a terrific double slipstream from the two Williams ahead of him, and duly pulled alongside the Swiss racer on the approach to the right hander. Jones, meanwhile, would also manage to draft alongside his teammate ahead of the braking zone for Stowe, with Regazzoni left sandwiched in between. Regazzoni would hit the brakes first and bail out of the battle, allowed Jabouille to sweep across his nose, only to find that Jones' Williams was still inside. Jones hence claimed the lead as Jabouille had to open his steering, briefly giving Regazzoni a chance of re-passing on the exit. Yet, the V6t would have enough grunt to pull away, leaving Regazzoni to defend from Piquet towards the end of the lap. would, almost inadvertently, lead the opening half lap of race.]]Come the end of the opening tour Jones had established a small lead, although Jabouille was close enough to keep the Australian glancing in his mirrors. Regazzoni was next having fended off a look from Piquet through the Woodcote chicane, with the Brazilian's teammate Niki Lauda watching on in fifth. He was being chased by a fast starting Mario Andretti, who had crept forward on the grid, while René Arnoux led the rest of the field across the line. The race was not about to settle down however, with Piquet quickly disappearing when harassing Regazzoni through Woodcote on lap two. That gifted fourth to Lauda, although the Austrian ace was already falling away from the leaders, and holding up a huge gaggle of cars behind. Indeed, Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve would quickly pick their way through Lauda's train to harass the Austrian by the end of lap three, and would both blast clear of the #5 before the end of lap five. After that the race would begin to settle into some form of rhythm, with Andretti becoming an early casualty with a failed wheel bearing. Out front, meanwhile, Jones would steadily ease away from Jabouille, who was already regretting his choice of Michelin compound and found that he was already losing grip. Regazzoni was a secure third, pacing himself against Jabouille, while Arnoux had the two s of Villeneuve and Scheckter slithering about in his mirrors as both lacked grip. At one quarter distance the race seemed to be all but over, for Jabouille would fall behind Regazzoni as his tyres faded, and duly opted to sweep into the pits for a fresh set at the end of lap seventeen. Unfortunately his race was to be ruined by said stop, with an airline for the wheel gun getting tangled in the nose section of the Renault as Jabouille roared away, shredding the front bodywork. The Frenchman returned at the end of the following lap for repairs, although he ultimately spent so long sitting with the engine running that his twin-turbochargers burned themselves out, ending his race. used his experience to move up the order, eventually inheriting a points finish late on.]]With that the two Williams were able to ease off, with Jones keeping his revs low, while Regazzoni kept an eye on his mirrors in case he had to fend off a charge from Arnoux. Elsewhere the two Ferraris swapped places, Scheckter moving ahead of Villeneuve, while Lauda had given up hope of making it to the finish, his carbon brakes simply unable to slow the car. In contrast, John Watson was running surprisingly well with the new , up in seventh after the early exchanges, although he was soon relegated to the back of the field after picking up a puncture. That put Jacky Ickx and Jean-Pierre Jarier into the top ten, although they were one of a number of drivers already a lap behind the flying Jones out front. Half-distance came and went without incident, with no signs that Jones' dominant run was going to come to an end any time soon. Regazzoni was steadily inching towards his teammate, and dropping Arnoux at a far greater rate, while Jacques Laffite had caught the two Ferraris, and soon elbowed his way past Villeneuve. Indeed, a huge cheer would greet his second move on Scheckter a couple of laps later, just as Carlos Reutemann came into the pits with a shredded sideskirt. However, as the British fans cheered the sight of a Ferrari being passed those who supported Williams were about to have their hearts broken, for Jones' car was to appear at Woodcote at the end of lap 39 billowing smoke and steam. Indeed, a water pump failure had allowed his Cosworth engine to cook itself in a matter of seconds, with Jones coasting to a stop in his pit box. Regazzoni duly swept through to inherit his teammate's lead, with Williams immediately signalling to the Swiss racer to nurse his car. As the Williams crew consoled Jones on what should have been a dominant victory, Laffite saw his recently inherited third place evaporate, his Cosworth unit having decided to cannibalise itself a few laps later. Keke Rosberg would disappear at the same time as his fuel system failed, leaving just four cars on the lead lap. That soon became three when Villeneuve disappeared into the pits for a fresh set of Michelins, rejoining behind Jarier in fifth, only to have his race ended two laps later when his Ferrari F12 developed a vapour lock. enjoyed a late move on Jody Scheckter to claim third.]]Indeed, all eyes would be on Jarier in the closing stages, for the Frenchman was among the faster cars on track, and was steadily closing in on Scheckter. Furthermore, the was also dragging Watson's McLaren along with it, with both dramatically closing on the sole-surviving Ferrari as it wore through the last of its tyres. They ultimately managed to catch the #11 a couple of laps after Regazzoni put the South African a lap down, with a huge cheer erupting when the Tyrrell of Jarier bumped Scheckter off the podium. With that the race was done, with Regazzoni cruising home to claim his fifth victory, and the first for Williams, much to the joy of the British crowd. Arnoux was a distant second, the only man on the lead lap, while Jarier was a content third given Tyrrell's lack of pace earlier in the weekend. Watson was next having swept past Scheckter on the final lap, while Ickx inherited the final point after Patrick Tambay ran out of fuel on the penultimate tour. Results The full results for the are outlined below: *T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car. ** Tambay and Villeneuve would both still be classified despite retiring as they had completed 90% of the race distance. *† de Angelis was handed a one minute time-penalty for jumping the start. Milestones * Debut race for Patrick Gaillard.'1979 British GP', chicanef1.com, (Chicane F1, 2015), http://www.chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=1979&gp=British%20GP&r=1, (Accessed 28/12/2018) * Fiftieth Grand Prix for as a constructor. * Maiden pole position for Alan Jones.9. Britain 1979', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1979/grande-bretagne.aspx, (Accessed 28/12/2018) ** Also the first pole for Williams as a constructor. ** This was also the first pole achieved by a car using #27 as its race number. * Fifth and final victory for Clay Regazzoni. * Williams claimed their maiden victory as a Formula One constructor. ** 121st victory for as an engine supplier. * Jean-Pierre Jarier earned his third and final podium finish. Standings Victory for Clay Regazzoni would propel the Swiss ace into the middle of the top ten, moving into sixth ahead of defending Champion Mario Andretti. At the top of the standings, meanwhile, there had been very little change, although Championship leader Jody Scheckter had extended his lead to six points as his closest challengers failed to score. Ergo, Gilles Villeneuve remained in second ahead of Jacques Laffite, while Patrick Depailler remained ahead of Carlos Reutemann. In the International Cup for Constructors it was another profitable day for , with the Italian aces leaving the UK with a fifteen point lead over . The French squad were in a secure second, largely due to 's dramatic loss of form, while victory had propelled into fourth ahead of . , meanwhile, would slip to sixth, while finally broke into double figures after their miserable campaign. Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown. References Images and Videos: * GrandPrixMotorRacing, '#350637370', deviantart.com, (DeviantArt, 13/02/2015), https://www.deviantart.com/grandprixmotorracing/art/350637370-513718694, (Accessed 28/12/2018) * F1-history, 'Clay Regazzoni (Great Britain 1979)', deviantart.com, (DeviantArt, 28/12/2012), https://www.deviantart.com/f1-history/art/Clay-Regazzoni-Great-Britain-1979-345242505, (Accessed 28/12/2018) * F1-history, 'Jacky Ickx (Great Britain 1979)', deviantart.com, (DeviantArt, 14/08/2012), https://www.deviantart.com/f1-history/art/Jacky-Ickx-Great-Britain-1979-321169294, (Accessed 28/12/2018) * F1-history, 'Jean-Pierre Jarier (Great Britain 1979)', deviantart.com, (DeviantArt, 26/08/2013), https://www.deviantart.com/f1-history/art/Jean-Pierre-Jarier-Great-Britain-1979-396022893, (Accessed 28/12/2018) References: Category:Grand Prix articles Category:1979 Grands Prix Category:British Grand Prix Category:Formula One races in the United Kingdom